Lessen Releases First-Ever Repair & Maintenance Benchmark Report, Setting a New Standard for the Single-Family Rental Industry

Comprehensive study of 680,000 work orders and $470 million in spend offers property managers and real estate owners the first standardized benchmark for R&M performance and costs

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Lessen, the premier, tech-enabled, end-to-end solution for outsourced real estate property services, today announced the release of its inaugural Repair & Maintenance (R&M) Benchmark Report, the most comprehensive study of its kind in the single-family rental (SFR) industry. Covering more than 680,000 work orders and $470 million in spend across 2024, the report provides operators with the first standardized dataset measuring the true performance and cost of repair and maintenance operations.

R&M accounts for 5%–15% of rental income, making it one of the largest controllable expenses for property operators, and a key driver of resident satisfaction and renewal rates. Until now, SFR operators lacked a clear benchmark for how their maintenance programs stacked up within the industry.

“Repair and maintenance are the lifeblood of the rental housing experience, but historically it’s been the least understood area of operations,” said Jay McKee, Founder and CEO, at Lessen. “Our goal with this report is to provide the same type of clarity and benchmarking for R&M that Yardi and RealPage have long provided for rent growth and occupancy in the multifamily industry. Over time, we believe this report will become the standard reference point across the residential rental industry.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Work order costs vary widely: General maintenance, HVAC, and plumbing drive the highest per-order expenses, with median costs ranging from $327 to $707.
• Time to complete differs by category: General maintenance projects take the longest to close (median 14.8 days), while HVAC and plumbing issues are resolved fastest due to emergency prioritization.
• Market variation is significant: Sunbelt markets saw lower median maintenance costs than Western and Midwestern markets such as Denver, Chicago, and Kansas City.
• Annual cost per home spans $1,000–$3,100, underscoring how strategic vendor management and preventative maintenance can dramatically impact NOI.

The report also highlights areas where operators underestimate costs, particularly indirect expenses like overhead, call center operations, and technology investments, while demonstrating how Lessen’s model of structured data, AI-powered work order management, and national vendor scale helps operators drive savings of up to 30%.

“Operators finally have a data-driven way to benchmark their costs and performance against the broader market,” said Sean Miller, Chief Revenue Officer, at Lessen. “This transparency will not only help them optimize operations, but also improve the resident experience in measurable ways.”

The full report is available now at www.lessen.com/lp/sfr-benchmarking-lessen-white-paper.

About Lessen
Lessen is the tech-enabled, end-to-end property service provider that is transforming how commercial and residential real estate services are delivered and managed at scale. Lessen’s technology platform provides data-driven insights that unlock key growth opportunities for the entire real estate ecosystem—including investors, owners, managers, and service providers. The company leverages a network of over 30,000 vetted, qualified vendors (Lessen Affiliates) serving clients with over 1 million properties and completing more than 3.5 million work orders annually across an expanding range of services. Lessen, LLC is a venture-backed, privately held company with offices in Scottsdale and Chicago. To learn more about Lessen’s solutions, visit lessen.com.